“Marks of Indifference” was a sophisticated essay to read about conceptual art in the form of photography. This essay capsulated the true exploration of photography in various art forms which rightfully began around 1920. At this time, taking photos was about mainly about reporting or “reportage”. These artists began to look away from art and look more towards cinema to discover spontaneity.
Jeff Wall spent a great deal speaking on the topic of art-photography’s achieved or perceived “aestheticism”. This term I interpret to mean a photographs true artistic aura and its overall visual aspect that it provides for an observer. I found myself having to read sections of his essay a few times because of Wall’s refined writing style and way of describing the different technical and visual aspects of art-photography. Throughout this article he does a great job of building up the different aspects of photo-art: abstract art, conceptual, photojournalism, and other modern aspects of photography. He provides so much compelling information on these topics that it guides the reader into talking Wall’s word for truth which makes it hard to make an argument against the topics he covers. Upon first read, it actually seems as if Wall has left nothing out of this complicated essay.
I especially enjoyed his section on abstract art and how it is a revolutionary form which continues its evolution with the rejection of depiction of history. This not so simple statement, I’m sure, contains a deeper meaning judging from the complex form of this essay. Either way I found this section especially intriguing mainly because this is a new topic that we have yet to cover in class.
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